Aloha ʻOe, Chad!

The memorial for cousin Chad was this morning; he is the youngest of the cousins on Dad's side of the family. Chad had passed away in August. Originally, his service was to have been in September but the rising case counts due to the Delta variant shut down indoor group activities; his memorial was postponed until today. Hosoi Garden Mortuary required people to show proof of vaccination plus picture ID upon arrival for the service & information was collected for contact tracing; everyone also had to remain masked except while speaking at the podium or during the photo session. But similar to Dad's service, there was a video live feed for people who were unable to attend, either due to distance, illness, or being unvaccinated.

(Photo from Baron, photographer unknown)

One of the group photos taken during the celebration; Gushiken side of the family.

Chad was in intermediate school when I left for graduate school in Seattle, so I did not know of his teenage & young adult years. One of the things I learned today about cousin Chad was that he liked to drive fast so he was very pleased to be employed as an EMT & was thus able to legally drive fast & run red lights! After Chad was injured on the job & had to take a medical retirement he became a licensed massage therapist; if I had known that I would have paid him for monthly massages! David the emcee shared a story about one of Chad's cats, Oedipus. Until he mentioned Oedipus, I had not remembered that cat; but as he was relating his story, I could hear Aunty Gert (Chad's mom) grumbling about Oedipus again!

The way Chad's memorial was conducted was very different than Dad's was in January. The changes reflect the changing COVID-19 environment. At the time of Dad's celebration, clinics to vaccinate people were just getting started & because vaccines were in short supply they were generally only available for nā kūpuna in nursing homes & for First Responders, indoor gatherings were limited to 10 people, & we had to sit a minimum of 6 feet apart; there was no food allowed. Now the high efficacy of the vaccines plus the high vaccination rate here is moving us closer to pre-pandemic activities. Like changes after the 9/11 attacks, even after SARS-CoV 2 becomes endemic like the flu, things will never go back to pre-pandemic levels; it will just become the new normal. We have seen similar changes throughout history so it is nothing to be feared or denigrated. It is just part of our evolution as a society.

I skipped my proothie this morning; I knew there was going to be a lunch after the memorial; that is the usual follow-up for these activities in Hawaiʻi. Mona & Baron had individual bento boxes made for guests; Hosoi has a nice covered area in the back that has a lot of air flow that they offered for people to use. It was a very nice Okinawan-based lunch from Fukuya Deli & Catering. Even though there were more carbs in the meal than I have been eating I ate everything in honor of Chad. As we signed in to the service, we were given a set of reusable flatware plus both a paper & metal straw & tiny brush to clean out the straws.

The reusable flatware & straw sets.

First thing this morning, I got a text from Suzanne. Sadly, the ʻohana will be making a trip here in December for the funeral of one of the Hawaiʻi ʻohana. I guess we are now in the time of our lives that these types of events are becoming more common.

Today was weigh-in day. Fortunately, I do it first thing in the morning so I did not have the extra weight from lunch! However, I was 0.2 pounds heavier than last week. I sincerely believe todayʻs difference is due to increase in muscle mass; I feel stronger & my shorts feel less tight. Winner! I am not opposed to a slight shifting of my weight as I move through this fat loss journey. Increased muscle mass aids with burning fat. (Even at rest muscle burns calories, while fat does not.)

Last night I watched the partial lunar eclipse. I went out & got a photo about half an hour before the fullest extent of the eclipse; since I have no way to magnify the image it was quite bland. So I got on line to watch the live feed from several places on Hawaiʻi Island; it was much better!   

My view from the back yard, 29 minutes before peak eclipse.

The online feed from the Starry Knights group in Waimea at the peak of the eclipse.

 

I made cookies after lunch. I started with a batch of keto-friendly chocolate chip cookies. Since the oven was still hot I also made a batch of regular cookies from a mix I found when I was cleaning out the cabinet a couple weeks ago.

Keto-friendly chocolate chip cookies.

The regular cookies called for an egg & 3/4 cup of melted butter.

The directions said to just drop the dough on the cookie sheet.

Because of all that butter they totally melted & spread out on their own.

The 2nd dozen spread out even more.

Francisco sent out the information for next week's Citizen Forester inventory work in the Kapahulu/Kaimukī area. We will be doing Potential Planting Site inventories in an area nearby the training site we were at earlier this week.  

We will be in the green-circled area.

 

As I was reading the email from Kokua Market, I was intrigued by one of their lunchtime offerings for the barbecue tomorrow. What exactly is a "Char Siu veggie stir fry"? Usually when something is called "veggie" that means it is a vegetarian entree; how can something with Char Siu be vegetarian?

For dinner I had some tofu & chipotle sauerkraut. Yes, I combined a bland food with a more flavorful food. I thought it was a good combination.

Kīlauea volcano is still erupting. Volcano Watch celebrates its 30 year anniversary this month. The weekly column apparently started to give people information about the then active eruption that ultimately resulted in wiping out hundreds of homes.

The Aix weather app forecast partly cloudy skies for Honolulu all day; that was true. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast drizzles until lunch then partly cloudy skies until the evening when it would turn to rain for the remainder of the evening. Big Island News forecast mostly sunny for the morning with a 20% chance of showers; the Honomū weather station recorded no precipitation for the day. For Marysville, Aix forecast partly cloudy skies turning to drizzles in the late afternoon before becoming rain in the evening. The daylight portions seemed accurate but there apparently was no rain in the evening.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 7:52 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 7:52 a.m.

Marysville at 7:53 a.m. HST.

Kaimukī looking easterly at 9:28 a.m.

Nā Koʻolau at 9:32 a.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 1:12 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 5:54 p.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 5:54 p.m. HST.

The surf was small all around the state today.

Laniakea (N) at 7:47 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E), I don't think you missed anything.

Waikīkī (S) at 7:51 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 7:49 a.m.

Laniakea (N) at 5:51 p.m.

HIlo Bay (E) at 5:49 p.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 5:53 p.m.

Banyans (W) at 5:50 p.m.

There were 206 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 86,522; according to the Department of Health this includes 40 backlogged tests that were not previously recorded. DOH says there will be more backlogged tests to be reported over the next few weeks. These additional new cases push the State 7-day new case average up to 109 with a positivity rate of 1.4%; for the previous 6 days the new case average was below 100. There were also 6 new deaths reported, increasing the death toll to 998; currently there are 1526 cases considered to be active. As of today there have been 2,311,008 doses of vaccine administered, providing 72.3% of the State population with full vaccination and 84.8 % with at least one dose. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 63 with a positivity rate of 1.5%.  

Creeping back in to the danger zone.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Dwayne-O, Barbara, Naseem, & Eric!